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Just expierenced another EB moment!

moondance

Member
These guys never cease to amaze me:

Picked up my pre-ordered 360 premium on launch day, all good but no plug and play charger. EB says they can reserve me one and take my deposit. Going on six weeks now with no call from them. Anyways I'm in the mall tonight and I inquire.

Me: Ever get any plug and play chargers in yet?

EB Guy: What?

Me: Xbox 360...Plug and Play charger.

EB Guy: ahh...ahh...no.

Me: I reserved one on lauch day, you guys took my deposit. Any idea when you might get them in.

EB Guy: ahh...no.

Me: Ball park guess, anything.

EB Guy: Well we don't usually order obscure things.

Me: Obscure things! A charger for a just launched wireless console is an obscure thing?

EB Guy: Sorry, if you find it somewhere else we will refund your deposit.

Me: (in utter amazement)...No shit!

True story, where do they find these people.
 

sangreal

Member
:lol

I was in there the Friday before Christmas and two parents were ahead of me in line. Their son had asked them for a DS holiday pack or something for christmas because all of his friends were getting DSes. The girl who worked there convinced them to buy a PSP because there is "no comparison" between the two. Poor kid. This was after the parents told her that their son asked for a DS for Christmas.
 
sangreal said:
:lol

I was in there the Friday before Christmas and two parents were ahead of me in line. Their son had asked them for a DS holiday pack or something for christmas because all of his friends were getting DSes. The girl who worked there convinced them to buy a PSP because there is "no comparison" between the two. Poor kid.

They make twice as much selling a PSP. No comparison at all!
 
well, in defense, they are called "Play and Charge kits" so.... and hey, give retail workers a little slack after the holidays. i fight hard not to stab every other person in the pelvis every day at work....
 

Gattsu25

Banned
sangreal said:
:lol

I was in there the Friday before Christmas and two parents were ahead of me in line. Their son had asked them for a DS holiday pack or something for christmas because all of his friends were getting DSes. The girl who worked there convinced them to buy a PSP because there is "no comparison" between the two. Poor kid. This was after the parents told her that their son asked for a DS for Christmas.
err...this is a thread to post instances of EB being stupid
 

sangreal

Member
Wakune said:
err...this is a thread to post instances of EB being stupid

Hehe, well maybe it wasn't so stupid on EB's part, but I didn't feel like making my own thread about it. I just felt bad for the kid because he knew what he wanted and the EB chick went out of her way to spoil it for him by taking advantage of two parents who probably didn't even know the two systems are made by competitors.
 

Matlock

Banned
sangreal said:
:lol

I was in there the Friday before Christmas and two parents were ahead of me in line. Their son had asked them for a DS holiday pack or something for christmas because all of his friends were getting DSes. The girl who worked there convinced them to buy a PSP because there is "no comparison" between the two. Poor kid. This was after the parents told her that their son asked for a DS for Christmas.

I don't care which system she pushed, she should be fired.
 
Bleh can't blame them. They're really just cashiers. They're hired to make any sort of sale they can and to operate a register, nothing more.
 
Matlock said:
I don't care which system she pushed, she should be fired.

No she shouldn't, her manager is probably proud of her. She managed to get a couple to spend over twice the ammount they wanted to. They companies goal is to make money.
 
sangreal said:
Hehe, well maybe it wasn't so stupid on EB's part, but I didn't feel like making my own thread about it. I just felt bad for the kid because he knew what he wanted and the EB chick went out of her way to spoil it for him by taking advantage of two parents who probably didn't even know the two systems are made by competitors.
my question is this:


Why didn't you say anything? I know I would have.
 

Matlock

Banned
DarkAngelYuna said:
No she shouldn't, her manager is probably proud of her. She managed to get a couple to spend over twice the ammount they wanted to. They companies goal is to make money.

"Hey Mary, you just broke policy and fucked with someone because you're a fan of another system. WAY TO GO."
 

Ford Prefect

GAAAAAAAAY
DarkAngelYuna said:
No she shouldn't, her manager is probably proud of her. She managed to get a couple to spend over twice the ammount they wanted to.
Not to mention crushing an innocent child's dreams.
 

Monk

Banned
DarkAngelYuna said:
No she shouldn't, her manager is probably proud of her. She managed to get a couple to spend over twice the ammount they wanted to. They companies goal is to make money.

Man, I am proud to be an Australian, because if that happened here, and the kid was unhappy and they refused to give a full refund, they would have our consumer watchdog all over them. :)
 

Gattsu25

Banned
sangreal said:
Hehe, well maybe it wasn't so stupid on EB's part, but I didn't feel like making my own thread about it. I just felt bad for the kid because he knew what he wanted and the EB chick went out of her way to spoil it for him by taking advantage of two parents who probably didn't even know the two systems are made by competitors.


and how would that knowledge change their purchase?

"Little timmy wants a DS"

"Get him a PSP"

"No, he said he wants a DS because he's interested in unique and innovative--"

"Those are non-games! Here, look at this UMD Movie! Look at how good it looks"

"This is awesome, let's get him a PSP instead! I never knew Nintendo made these"

"Oh no, this is from Sony, one of Nintendo's competitors"

"What? No, I will not support a compititor of Nintendo. According to the latest NPD data, Nintendo is dominating the hardware sales in America and recent forecasts on their stock look promising, plus, when you factor in that Miyamoto-san touch who can resist the urge to support Nintendo i every endevour that they are in. By the way, that's a nice jacket"

"Yes, my girlfriend got it for me for Christmas. She said she wanted a shirt that showed off my cleavage although I'm not sure if she wanted me to wear it outside of the house."

"Do you mind if I touch?"

"No, go ahead. Touching is good."

"Ah yes, that definately is a fine bust. Hmm."

"Oh yeah. Like that. Kiss me."

"Here? Or how about here? And here?"

"Oh yes. Here too. In fact, let me take this off."

"Oh God yes. They're so perky"

"Kiss lower"

"Lower?"

"Oh fuck YES! Unbutton them."

"Shaven! Oh yeah...now just lean back a bit."

"I'm comming"

"A squiter! Perfect. Here turn around. This might seem odd for a second but trust me. You'll love it."

"Oh shit. Is that your tongue? It feels so...OH FUCK FASTER! YES!! YESSS!!"

"Ugh"

"Wait...that's not your tongue now...is it? I've never--"

"Trust me, I'll be gentle"

"Ugh. Oww. Slower"

"Like this?"

"Egh. That still kinda hurts. Take it out a bit."

"OK. Fine. Well, shit. I guess we'll stick with the DS then. Thanks for the demonstration but we will not support $ony"

"Your loss."
 

Ranger X

Member
Bad employees again.
Most cheap retail job aren't taken seriously you know. It's like that in every single kind of cheap store. But we always need (every week i swear) a thread about someone having his little emotions shaken by an "EB story".
Why bother????? don't you realise many employees are shit and of course, having threads like this sure can't help the system?
 

acidviper

Banned
Funny I was in the store listenting. I remember it just like yesterday. . . . doddododododdodo. . .

the way it really went down said:
Me: Ever get any plug and play chargers in yet?

EB Guy: What?

Me: Xbox 360...Plug and Play charger.

EB Guy: ahh...ahh...no.

Me: I reserved one on lauch day, you guys took my deposit. Any idea when you might get them in.

EB Guy: Tough shit. We don't have any in stock and there is none at the warehouse.

Me: Ball park guess, anything.

EB Guy: There are zero available, WTF do you want me to do build you one of these obscure things from stickers and pre-played games? I make minimum fucking wage and the only reason I got this job is beacuse I'm not obssessed with games.

Me: Obscure things! A charger for a just launched wireless console is an obscure thing?

EB Guy: You really need to get a life.

Me: (in utter amazement)...No shit!
 

Monk

Banned
WTF? The DS doing well must make the fanboys lose brain cells or something. Because Wakune used to be a respectable poster, same goes with Deg before the DS did well.
 

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Ok then....

Anywho, recently when I was looking for Jobs one of EB's Ads came up and I noticed that it said in BOLD "No Video Game Knowledge is Required". I just :lol :lol and continued looking.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Why didn't your conversation end like this?
moondance said:
EB Guy: Sorry, if you find it somewhere else we will refund your deposit.

Me: Fine, I want my deposit back now.
 

sangreal

Member
Wakune said:
and how would that knowledge change their purchase?

"Little timmy wants a DS"

"Get him a PSP"

"No, he said he wants a DS because he's interested in unique and innovative--"

"Those are non-games! Here, look at this UMD Movie! Look at how good it looks"

"This is awesome, let's get him a PSP instead! I never knew Nintendo made these"

"Oh no, this is from Sony, one of Nintendo's competitors"

"What? No, I will not support a compititor of Nintendo. According to the latest NPD data, Nintendo is dominating the hardware sales in America and recent forecasts on their stock look promising, plus, when you factor in that Miyamoto-san touch who can resist the urge to support Nintendo i every endevour that they are in. By the way, that's a nice jacket"

"Yes, my girlfriend got it for me for Christmas. She said she wanted a shirt that showed off my cleavage although I'm not sure if she wanted me to wear it outside of the house."

"Do you mind if I touch?"

"No, go ahead. Touching is good."

"Ah yes, that definately is a fine bust. Hmm."

"Oh yeah. Like that. Kiss me."

"Here? Or how about here? And here?"

"Oh yes. Here too. In fact, let me take this off."

"Oh God yes. They're so perky"

"Kiss lower"

"Lower?"

"Oh fuck YES! Unbutton them."

"Shaven! Oh yeah...now just lean back a bit."

"I'm comming"

"A squiter! Perfect. Here turn around. This might seem odd for a second but trust me. You'll love it."

"Oh shit. Is that your tongue? It feels so...OH FUCK FASTER! YES!! YESSS!!"

"Ugh"

"Wait...that's not your tongue now...is it? I've never--"

"Trust me, I'll be gentle"

"Ugh. Oww. Slower"

"Like this?"

"Egh. That still kinda hurts. Take it out a bit."

"OK. Fine. Well, shit. I guess we'll stick with the DS then. Thanks for the demonstration but we will not support $ony"

"Your loss."

Dude, chill out. I don't even follow handheld gaming, let alone handheld sales. If the situation were reversed I still would've felt bad.

I meant that the parents probably didn't even know it was a completely seperate system unrelated to the DS and not just a different model of the DS. They were quite clueless about the whole thing and the only reason the PSP came up is because the clerk asked how old the kid was (thirteen) and immediately declared that a PSP would be a better choice.
 

Monk

Banned
sangreal said:
Dude, chill out. I don't even follow handheld gaming, let alone handheld sales. If the situation were reversed I still would've felt bad.

I meant that the parents probably didn't even know it was a completely seperate system unrelated to the DS and not just a different model of the DS. They were quite clueless about the whole thing and the only reason the PSP came up is because the clerk asked how old the kid was (thirteen) and immediately declared that a PSP would be a better choice.


...That is just wrong.

I would never trust a 13 year old with a $250 product, when i hear the price i would simply leave the store.
 

BreakyBoy

o_O @_@ O_o
BTW, where do you get off thinking they actually make money on any console or portable hardware sale?

If my numbers at Best Buy are any indication, they make little to no profit on either, and if anything, the DS is the only one I actually get a discount on (less than a dollar btw), so that would tell me the console with the highest profit margin for the store is the DS.

Now, if they were overstocked on PSPs, or the Sony rep was providing an incentive (which is common of all store reps in my experience), then yeah she's got a good reason. Either way she probably didn't make that kid happy though.
 
CVXFREAK said:
It'll be their own fault if the kid end ups just returning it.

The brilliant part is, when the kid returns his PSP and buys a DS, he'll go ahead and spend the remainder of the cost of the PSP on DS games. So by pushing the PSP, the EB employee ended up generating about $100 in extra sales on DS stuff.
 

Scoobert

Member
I've seen parents with kids younger than 10 buy them a PSP. Sometimes even two or three for their other kids. It's always funny to see a parent buy a PSP and not buy a game because it gets too expensive.

Oh and the only reason the EB employee convinced the parents to get the PSP instead of the DS is because EB had a PSP contest for the holidays.

To the OP it's the holidays. Most likely you talked to a new employee. All new employees are clueless. Then again, you'll find clueless employees everywhere not to mention customers.
 

Memles

Member
If I, as a child, asked my parents for a new video game system because all of my friends had the same system, and I received a different video game system that I did NOT want...I'd be pissed. Doesn't matter if its DS/PSP, PS2/XBox, Genesis/SNES, etc. It would be one thing if these parents went in there asking employees blindly what they should get their child and came out with the wrong thing...they went in there looking for the right one and left with the wrong one. That right there are some weak parents, and an employee with, perhaps, a level of self-importance.
 
Memles said:
If I, as a child, asked my parents for a new video game system because all of my friends had the same system, and I received a different video game system that I did NOT want...I'd be pissed.

"Hey little Timmy, there are 7 of us, want to join in for 8 player Mario Kart? Your parents bought you a PSP? Shit, sorry dude."

These parents have scarred their child for life.
 

Economan

Member
EB Guy: Sorry, if you find it somewhere else we will refund your deposit.

:lol . I don't know what's worse: EB doing shit like this, or EB butchering their po games by placing half a dozen stickers all over them.
 

Monk

Banned
Striek said:
I'm sure the kids going to be crying himself to sleep over getting a PSP instead of a DS.

Especially after he destroyed it by dropping it long the road on a concrete pavement and it doesnt work anymore and then lost it at school.
 

Leo

Member
Scoobert said:
Oh and the only reason the EB employee convinced the parents to get the PSP instead of the DS is because EB had a PSP contest for the holidays.

Bingo. I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned sooner.

Because the PSP isn't selling well, we had some hard core pressure to sell it; it wasn't just a contest. We had to constantly update our district manager whenever we sold one, we were constantly harrassed to sell them, and an employee was supposed to be carrying around a PSP at all times. It sucked. The best part: when someone came in asking for the 360, we were supposed to use it as an opportunity to sell the PSP. "Sorry, no 360s. But we do have the PSP..."

They did the same thing once before, but even worse: Microsoft was VOM one month, so all the stores sold the heck out of Xbox (with TREMENDOUS pressure). Then, we all started getting crap because we weren't selling enough PS2s (what the fuck did they expect?), and were nagged and forced to sell more.

And to the original poster: either that employee is a moron (which is very likely) or you got a new employee or a very apathetic one (I know some in another store in town who deliberately lie to people over the phone).
 

moondance

Member
Fuzzy said:
Why didn't your conversation end like this?

EB Guy: Sorry, if you find it somewhere else we will refund your deposit.

Me: Fine, I want my deposit back now.


Ya the thought definately went through my mind but since nobody else in town seems to have them I figured I'd just let it ride. If I'd only known that the play n charge was such an obscure item I would have bought some rechargeables on launch day. Shit I'm already on my 4th pair of duracells.
 

M3wThr33

Banned
MrAngryFace said:
PSP just costs a fucking lot, not surprised its not flying off the shelves like the Happy Meal Toy DS
My DS feel down a whole story, bouncing on concrete stairs and ultimately onto the cement below.
A few scratches on the shell, still works fine.

The PSP would have taken out half a block from the explosion.

And that would have been the most action a PSP has ever seen.
 

ChrisReid

Member
Cerebral Palsy said:
They make twice as much selling a PSP. No comparison at all!

DarkAngelYuna said:
No she shouldn't, her manager is probably proud of her. She managed to get a couple to spend over twice the ammount they wanted to. They companies goal is to make money.

None of this is accurate though. Systems aren't sold at a profit at all. There's more profit to be had on a single GBA game than a DS or PSP system. It doesn't really matter which system they sell so long as they attach add-on sales. This was just a fangirl(?) cashier pushing her preference on some people.

BreakyBoy said:
BTW, where do you get off thinking they actually make money on any console or portable hardware sale?

If my numbers at Best Buy are any indication, they make little to no profit on either, and if anything, the DS is the only one I actually get a discount on (less than a dollar btw), so that would tell me the console with the highest profit margin for the store is the DS.

Now, if they were overstocked on PSPs, or the Sony rep was providing an incentive (which is common of all store reps in my experience), then yeah she's got a good reason. Either way she probably didn't make that kid happy though.

This person knows what he's talking about.
 

_Angelus_

Banned
Question to those who have the plug and charge kit-how long does it take to charge the batteries fully?

I was going to purchase one but then I remembered I had one of those Rayovac 15 minute chargers, so I decided to run out and bought 4 AA (IC3 type 15 minute rechargeables)batteries for 12 bucks,a much better deal than the Microsoft charger.
 

May16

Member
sangreal said:
:lol

I was in there the Friday before Christmas and two parents were ahead of me in line. Their son had asked them for a DS holiday pack or something for christmas because all of his friends were getting DSes. The girl who worked there convinced them to buy a PSP because there is "no comparison" between the two. Poor kid. This was after the parents told her that their son asked for a DS for Christmas.
And when their kid opened it Christmas day and didn't react with all that much glee, his parents realized they were idiots twice (the higher price + the bored reaction).
 

mrmyth

Member
My father did this shit to me when I was a kid. I asked for a Genny and he came home with a Turbografx 16 and a shitload of games because it was all on clearance. The only thng that saved that fucker was that I loved Bonk's Adventure...........and still got a Genny a few months later.
 
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